Flying Palace
by melancholic-medicine
Summary: When a floating palace arrives for the second time in some years, Yukari can't help but dread the past will repeat itself.
1. A Normal Morning, by Gensokyo Standards

The air was quiet around the Hakurei Shrine this particular morning – nothing was present, not even Marisa, who had practically made the Shrine her second home. There was even a spare set of clothes waiting, should the need for them ever arise. And the Youkai who usually populated the place were no where to be seen.

A gentle wind swept between the trees encompassing the Shrine like a protective wall. The small wind charm hanging from the ceiling was sounding out a tiny melody. Despite its size, this was the second loudest sound in the Shrine.

The loudest sound? The gentle snoring of the resident shrine maiden, Reimu Hakurei. Curled up under her futon (decorated with various ying-yang designs, courtesy of a certain puppeteer), she was sound asleep. Warm, cuddly, and so very deeply asleep…

"Ack!"

Suddenly, Reimu sat up straight, though still half asleep. Feeling dizzy from the sudden speed, she rubbed her head as she slowly laid back down and rested her head against the pillow. She turned over to look at the thing Yukari had given her.

"What did she call it again? A "clock" or something. I can't even read it properly…" she lamented, picking it up and holding it above her while she laid on her back. It was a bright pink alarm clock, with two bells on the top, while the hands ticked away quietly. Despite having the bells, though, Marisa had tweaked it so that loud noise like smashing glass, the one that eerily sounded whenever someone lost a battle during Tenshi's fun, sounded whenever it was time to get up. Reimu had yet to figure out how to get rid of the spell (or "improvement", as Marisa had called it).

"Hang on…" Studying it further, she figured out something was odd. "Those little wands are meant to point near the 6 and 12 when this thing goes off. But the littler one's in between the 9 and 10..." Reimu paused, as the realisation sunk in.

"I OVERSLEPT!" the miko shrieked, loud enough to be heard from the bottom as the Shrine steps, scaring off a couple of birds that had recently landed in a nearby tree. Tossing the futon covers aside, revealing a simple white nemaki, she jumped up and hurried off to another room to get dressed. Hopefully, nothing would happen while she did that much!

* * *

Darkness.

That was how it was, and how Remilia liked it. Though there were only a few windows in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, there were some places just a bit too bright for her tastes, such as the kitchen. But the inner chamber, where she spent most of her waking hours was just right. There was a minute sliver of light in the room, but that was only so Sakuya, and if need be Patchouli, could see when they came in.

Despite the darkness, Remilia still had had the room decorated. So what if she was the only person likely to be able to see these decorations? The ceiling was high, but several richly decorated lengths of various materials gave the impression it was a lot lower. Remilia herself was sat in a large throne in the middle of the room, padded with many cushions, but designed to be comfortable, even with her wings. Next to it was a small table that she used to put tea or a meal on when Sakuya bought some. There were also several statues depicting famous, but fictional vampires. Sakuya was ordered to take meticulous care while dusting these.

Another thing Sakuya took a lot of care in was the tea she made for Remilia, too. Not to mention some of the food she made. Remilia was, at the specific moment, holding a cup of tea in her hands, with a slice of 'special' cake Sakuya had made only quarter of an hour earlier. Catering for a vampire isn't the easiest of things, especially when it's your own species on the menu. But as far as Remilia could tell, Sakuya seemed to not care about that anymore. Or she just suppresses the thought of it.

And then there was feeding the little sister too. Remilia was incredibly surprised, not to mention impressed, that Flandre had no idea that human blood was a staple part of her diet. She always assumed Sakuya had hidden that for her own safety, in case Flandre was particularly hungry when she was nearby. In fact, Sakuya should have delivered some of that cake to the little sister by now.

Another feature of Sakuya that Remilia was constantly impressed by was her punctuality. She always arrived several seconds, if not immediately after she was summoned.

Time to put it to the test?

"Sakuya?"

Remilia waited for a second, then another. Then, almost as if on cue, the air fuzzed behind her, and made the same crackling noise as it always does for Sakuya's teleportation abilities.

"Yes, milady? How can I be of service?" Sakuya asked politely, as always adding a curtsey on the end. Remilia could hear the fold of Sakuya's dress bend as she did this, so there was no need to look to know she had curtsied. Then there was the obvious answer that she always curtsied when addressing Remilia for the first time in a conversation.

Remilia smirked. "You were very nearly late, you know…" Sakuya blushed in humiliation.

"I'm sorry, milady. One of the fairy maids were goofing off again, I was trying to discipline her… No, that is not an excuse. I am deeply sorry, and it will not happen again." Sakuya apologized. Remilia was in the mind of replying along the lines of 'Damn well it shouldn't' but then remembered why she had said it in the first place.

"Sakuya, I was only joking, you know…"

"I can never be sure with you, milady." Sakuya replied, meekly, knowing that contesting with Remilia might be a bad idea. She decided to change the subject. "Anyway, how can I be of service, milady?"

"Very well." Remilia started, putting her cup of tea down on the table next to her. She picked up the fork left next to the cake and cut off a piece using the edge of it. While she stabbed it with her fork, she began talking to her servant again. "You know, it fascinates me how you make these cakes…"

"Um, thank you, milady?" Sakuya replied, watching Remilia carefully while she sampled the cake. The smile that promptly spread across Remilia's face meant the cake was a success.

"But I digress. Sakuya. I've noticed something recently." She paused as she watched as the maid tilted her head in curiosity. "Even by your standards, you've been working too hard lately, and--"

"No I haven't!" Sakuya interrupted indignantly. A frown spread across Remilia's face. "Umm, I mean…" Sakuya panicked, remembering how bad an idea it is to ever interrupt the vampire. "It is always a pleasure to serve you, and it is never any trouble. Honestly, milady…"

"Hmm… I worry about you sometimes, Sakuya." Remilia replied, forgetting the interruption. Noticing this, Sakuya breathed an internal sigh of relief. "You do work far too hard. I want you to take a day off." Sakuya opened her mouth to interrupt, but Remilia sensed this and beat her to it. "No buts, no nothing. Go leech tea off of Red-White today, or something. I'm sure she'll be glad to have just you as a visitor."

"Umm… What do you mean by that?" Sakuya asked fearfully, despite already knowing the answer.

"She always grumbles that I'm over there too often. Not that I care. But anyway… Sakuya. Day off. Now. Go." Remilia snapped, emphasising the last word.

Sakuya sighed in defeat, knowing that she would be kicked out of the mansion forcefully otherwise.

"Yes, milady… Let me get something from my room, and then I will spend the rest of the day of the Hakurei Shrine, should you need me." She curtsied again, then teleported off, out of sight, presumably to her room within the mansion.

Remilia sighed. She knew that the rest of the day was not going to be good. And that wasn't because of Sakuya's absence.

"You do know she noticed I was here, right?" a voice asked from the dark.

"Yes, but what difference would it have made… Patchouli?" Remilia asked in reply, looking towards where Patchouli was standing, head buried in an old-looking book. She lowered the book to make eye contact with Remilia, despite the fact she couldn't see very far.

"A lot. She could be under the impression that I told you to send her off." She answered, bringing her book back up to obscure her view of Remilia.

"If you're questioning Sakuya's loyalty, don't." Remilia replied firmly. "I know exactly where Sakuya's loyalties lie. And I'm thoroughly grateful for them."

"I love how you can put so much trust into the pet." came the sarcastic reply. "And it was sweet to send her off to somewhere hopefully safer. Though I'm not sure about the Shrine…" Suddenly, a scarlet spear roared passed Patchouli's head, causing her to flinch and drop the book she had been holding.

"Patchouli…" Remilia breathed heavily. "I have a lot of respect for you, but… But if you ever patronise or mock Sakuya like that again, I'll be aiming next time…" Patchouli nodded meekly, grabbing the book and heading for the door, knowing that it's best to leave before the mistress threw a tantrum. However, she was stopped dead in her steps by a chilling voice breathing down her neck.

"Have you made all the preparations we'll need?" Remilia asked quietly. She had sped right behind Patchouli, making the magician very nervous. She nodded timidly, then shook her head quickly.

"Almost. I just need to finish perfecting the rain spell. It'll take an hour, at the most."

"Good. Thank you, Patchouli." Remilia replied, turning around and slowly walking back to her seat to finish her cake and her tea, unless that had gotten cold.

Patchouli was tempted to reply something along the lines of 'You're welcome, bitch" but knew the moment it became audible, she'd have a spear wrapped around her head. Damn, she hated it when Remilia bullied her.

* * *

The sky was so pretty over the Yakumo Residence. This particular day, it was a beautiful shade of blue, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky to obstruct the view. It was times like this Yukari considered not sleeping quite as much as she usually did through the day. But whenever those thoughts emerged, they'd be quickly vanquished by the memories of how warm and cuddly her futon and kotatsu were. That was part of the reason she slept lots. It was common knowledge too. She would never let anyone else know why she usually chose to sleep through the day, but always wondered if anybody would ever find out.

Yukari gulped at the prospect, then again at the fact something had actually scared her. There was barely anything she was afraid of, especially here in Gensokyo. If someone asked her, she would have to think for a couple of minutes as to what her worst fear was.

"Well, at the moment, I'm scared the beautiful sky will disappear." She lamented to herself, gazing into the horizon at a worrying sight interrupting the azure, but that was something to worry about later

Sitting on a boundary, she was quite some distance in the sky. She gazed down to the house to watch Chen, her shikigami's own shikigami, run around the front of the main building, doing various jobs. Chen's endless enthusiasm always brightened up the place, and she would always try to get the job done, even if she had failed several times before.

A breeze picked up, threatening to throw Yukari off-balance, or at least the purple tunic she wore over her dress up. And she hated it when the happened. Slowly, Yukari floated down, slipping the lower half of her body into the boundary as she did so. As she came down to the ground, Chen noticed her, and put what she had been carrying down and ran over. Yukari patted her on the head a couple of times and smiled warmly, before sliding entirely into the boundary. With a small 'pop' noise, the boundary sealed itself up. Chen grabbed the package she had been carrying and carried on with her chores, humming a tune to herself as she did so.

While she sat for a moment in the World between Boundaries, Yukari knew there was something she had wanted Chen to do. Maybe she'd remember it if she asked Ran?

Elsewhere, said shikigami was finishing repairing a door that had recently come off its hinges in a storm. As it was not attached to the main building, rather the seemingly pointless guest rooms, Ran had not seen it as a major priority, though something that would need doing nonetheless. But, earlier that morning, Yukari had insisted the door was repaired with the utmost importance. Not wanting to question her orders, Ran got on with it as soon as possible.

In other words, after she had finished clearing breakfast. Yukari never usually ate breakfast (she was generally asleep at the time) but having to cook the large breakfast she had requested on top of what she and Chen normally had… Well, Ran had at one point suspected it was the mistress of the Netherworld in disguise or something…

"Peeeekabooo…"

Ran jumped feet, throwing some nails up with her. Yukari had begun a habit of sneaking up on her in this way, and Ran wasn't sure why. Did her master just take glee in various forms of animal abuse or something?

"Please… You know that's not funny, Mistress…" Ran wailed, turning around to address her master. Or rather, the small boundary she was talking out of. Ran sighed, putting down the hammer (thanking the gods she hadn't thrown it in the air when she had jumped) and put her hands in her sleeves to get them warm, as she usually did. She hated having to talk to those tiny boundaries rather than to the face of her master.

She also checked if her emergency supply of cat nip kept on the inside of her cuff was present. If Yukari had interrupted her in the middle of a job, a new job was bound to be around the corner. A new job requiring or revolving around Chen.

"Can I help you, Mistress?"

"Ran, how's the door going? Will you be done nearly? I need to ask you something~!" Yukari replied in a sing song voice. Ran grimaced and nodded, dreading what was coming next. "Did I tell you I had a job in mind for Chen? I can't remember."

"No, I don't think so. Mistress, may I ask you a question?" The boundary opened slightly more, and Yukari's grinning face popped out. She nodded, prompting Ran to start her question. "You've been…" Ran hesitated for the right word. "… different today… Is there something you're not telling me?" _"Not that you tell me anything anyway…"_ she mentally added.

"Who, me?" Yukari faced scrunch up into an overly pensive expressive. "Don't think so~"

"If you say so, Mistress… What where you saying about Chen, earlier?"

"Oh! I remember now! Could you bring Chen here? I need her to deliver a message for me." Yukari asked, smiling sweetly. Ran sighed, and walked off, weary from her master's eccentricities.

As she watched the kitsune walk off, she expanded the boundary a little, then slung her arm over the edge, almost as if it were a hammock. Lounging like this and watching the sky, her thoughts turned to the Shrine Maiden, and the first time she ever saw her. Reimu had been quite crabby during their meeting, insisting that Yukari had been slacking off. As if!

"The Great Youkai of Borders and Boundaries never slacks off!" Yukari shouted loudly, laughing at herself whilst doing so. "I just sleep lots…" She added, giggling quietly on the end. "I wonder if Reimu will figure out I turned off her alarm this morning?"

Laughing again at her actions, she began to reminisce about their encounters. After all, she had been good friends with Reimu's mother, and so it was only natural she would be 'friends' with Reimu, as well.

Oh, Reimu's mother… Such a nice lady, until…

"Miss Yukari~! I'm here!" Chen called loudly, snapping Yukari out of her thoughts. In fact, if she had been flying solo rather then lying in a boundary she probably would have fallen. She twisted around to face Chen, who was hopping up and down, like her usual energetic self. Yukari stared blankly at her for a moment before remembering what she was going to say.

"Ahh, Chen, thank you for coming so quickly."

"What can I do for you, Miss Yukari?" Chen asked cheerfully. Ran tapped her on the head. She twisted slightly to look at her own master.

"Chen, I've told you a million times already – you must address her as Mistress!" Ran snapped. "Really, it's only proper respect, Chen." Chen frowned, and looked as if she was about to bow down in apology when Yukari stopped her.

"No, let her. I think it's cute!" Yukari giggled. "Anyway, Chen?" The nekomata nodded obediently. "I need you to pop out and deliver a message for me. Could you do that?" Chen jumped up and down excitedly, while Ran gave her master a curious look.

"Why not me? No offence to Chen, but I could probably do it faster." Ran pointed out, irritated that she had been bypassed for her own shikigami. Chen flinched, worried that she had upset her master. Yukari waved her hand at the idea.

"Good point, but aren't you currently slacking off from some door repairs, aren't you Ran?" Yukari replied, a serious look on her face.

"Yes, but… WHAT?!" Ran blurted, unable to believe what her master had just said to her. She opened her mouth a couple of times to try and make a protest, but when nothing came to mind, the kitsune grumbled loudly to herself, and walked off to finish repairing the stupid door.

* * *

Back in the outside world, Sanae had learnt that the weather on top of mountains was usually rather difficult for humans to survive in, what with the lack of oxygen and whatnot. Of course, Sanae had never actually been to the top of a mountain in the outside world, so she wasn't sure if this was always the case.

Or was it because Gensokyo was so weird that the top of Youkai Mountain always had such beautiful weather? One can never be too sure in Gensokyo. Especially seeing as there was that time where the weather seemed to change depending on who was nearby. That was weird. Especially since that crow tengu with the camera liked hanging around nearby.

Or maybe Kanako had tweaked something in the sky. Come to think of it, Sanae only ever saw clouds when she descended the mountain to go shopping.

"I wonder where Lady Kanako is?" Sanae wondered aloud, carrying on with the sweeping. For an almighty god, Kanako was quite lazy when there was nothing happening. This was one of those days, and Sanae had gone about her chores all morning, expecting to see Kanako napping somewhere. But she was not in sight. Sanae had even looked around the lake.

Suwako was nowhere to be seen, either. Sanae could only assume and hope about what they were doing: assume they were together, and hope they were not causing trouble.

Satisfied that she had finished with her sweeping, she slowly made her way back into the shrine to return the broom to its cupboard. The inside of the shrine was quite homely, thanks to Sanae's efforts, and, much unlike the other Shrine down by the Great Border, quite warm. While she opened the cupboard, Sanae could hear some stamping noises coming from the ceiling, as well as some shouts. Shouts that sounded particularly like a certain god with an affinity for frogs.

Shutting the cupboard with a sigh, Sanae finally realised where the other residents of the Shrine had been. She walked outside, noticing that the shouting had stopped. Curious, not to mention worried about the silence, she took a running start before gracefully taking flight. Doing a couple of loop-de-loops to head back to the direction of the Shrine, she flew stylishly through the sky before landing carefully on the roof of the Moriya Shrine.

And, plain as day, the two gods were sat in the middle of the roof, ferociously staring each other down. A small part of Sanae dreaded this: Kanako and Suwako were constantly competing with each other, and seven times out of ten, it came with destructive results, which upset the Tengu and the Kappa.

Walking slowly and cautiously over, the shrine maiden addressed the pair.

"Um, Lady Kanako?"

"Yeah?" Kanako answered, not moving her head, despite facing the opposite direction from Sanae.

"Lady Suwako?"

"Is something the matter, Sanae?" Suwako similarly didn't move a muscle.

"Err, may I be as bold as to ask what the two of you are doing?" Sanae asked.

"Isn't obvious?" Kanako asked, still not moving. "We're having a rematch. On _her_ insistence, of course."

"Kanako!" Suwako snapped. "Throwing a pillar at me is definitely cheating in a staring contest!"

At this point, Sanae grimaced. She could almost smell an argument brewing…

"No, Suwako, you're just--" Kanako retorted, jumping up to take a swing at her fellow goddess, but Sanae interrupted her.

"Umm, Lady Kanako, Lady Suwako, surely a staring contest is unnecessary? And have you been doing this all day?"

"Umm, pretty much." Kanako replied.

"Well, I went to say good morning to the Kappa beforehand, but yeah. Staring contest for several hours." Suwako laughed. "By the way, Kanako… You just blinked." Kanako stared blankly at her for a moment, then her face turned red.

"What?! No way! Sanae, did I blink?!" she screamed, grabbing Sanae by the shoulders. With a terrified look in her eyes, Sanae hesitated and refused to answer for several seconds, despite Kanako's shaking.

"Kanako, put her down. She won't answer so as not to be bias…" Suwako sighed, pulling on Kanako's arm. Kanako glared daggers in return, but Suwako held fast and managed to pull her friend away. "Sanae, why don't you go out somewhere? I think Kanako might be a bit testy today…"

"What? Lady Suwako! I can't leave the Shrine unless it's for chores!"

"Okay, consider this a chore for you – I want to go out and enjoy yourself today, okay?" Suwako smiled brightly, still clinging on to Kanako, though she could see the confusion and worry in Sanae's face. "Okay… I want you to go and head on down to the Hakurei Shrine today, and ask the shrine maiden there for more details about Gensokyo. Get her to tell you what it's like for a super-powered human in Gensokyo."

Sanae sighed, and reluctantly swivelled around on her foot. As usual, she took her run-up, and within a few seconds, the shrine maiden was airborne. She paused for a second and turned around to wave good bye to the two gods, but when she did, she realised that Suwako was currently wrestling Kanako for the possession of her hat. Against her better judgement, she decided to leave them to it as she gently flew off into the sky.

"I thought she'd never go…" Kanako sighed, tossing Suwako's hat like a Frisbee. Suwako made an angry croaking noise and crouched on all fours like a frog briefly, before making an almighty leap to catch her hat. She flew back, and Kanako could swear the eyes on the hat gave her a dirty look.

"I'm glad she did though. You know what I want to talk about. But I didn't want to talk about it in front of Sanae." Suwako voice turned deadly serious.

"Yes. The sky…" Kanako rubbed her chin for a while, then clicked, summoning her circular Shimenawa to her back. She floated several feet into the air, then seemed to glow for a few seconds, before stopping and floating back down. "Hmm…" She began to rub her chin again.

"Can't fix it?" Suwako asked worriedly. Kanako shook her head gravely.

"No. there's something big screwing around with it. Pretty big to be stopping me from fixing that hole in it." Kanako lamented, studying the gaping hole in the sky on the horizon, seemingly threatening to tear up the rest of the sky around it unless it was fixed soon. "I wonder if anyone else has noticed it?"

* * *

Um, yeah, first attemtp at a Touhou fanfic. I hope my writing is better than my skills in the game (damn cat! I'll throw that wheelbarrow at you one day!), so yeah, please rate and review (and maybe give a pointer on the summary, because it just plain sucks at the mo..."


	2. Gensokyo's Edgy

In the bamboo forest of Gensokyo, it is often deadly quiet. The trees reach high into the sky, clawing at the sun and the moon possessively. As once you wonder in the labyrinth of trees, most times you wouldn't make it out again. And you don't die from starvation or a youkai attack or anything like that.

Oh no.

Unless you're incredibly lucky, you'll go insane and die of loneliness or through hallucinations. The power of the moon is intensely powerful within the forest, and only a few have been known to withstand it. And it was possible to count the humans who could on the fingers of one hand.

Within the middle of the forest, there was an old mansion, possibility older than the forest itself. It reeked of the ages, and looked tired, yet always held strong, with a majestic, lunatic dignity.

That is, until the rabbits caused a commotion within it.

"Eeeeeek!" A piercing scream shattered the mid-day tranquillity. "Stupid rabbit!"

Running as fast as she could, Gensokyo's medical genius, Eirin Yagokoro, charged towards the source of the scream, fearing the worst. The princess could easily take care of herself, and it was very hard to take her down and keep her that way for long too. Had that Mokou girl attacked her again?

Barely stopping in time to open the door rather than charge and tear straight through it, Eirin paused for a moment to regain her breathe. On a quick count of three, she slid the door open as quickly as she could.

What she saw on the other side was not what she had been expecting, though.

The princess of the moon was a gentle lady, with a graceful aura constantly surrounding her. She was the object of many a man's affections throughout her long life, due to her nature and her looks. And normally, she was so gentle.

Eirin hadn't exactly been expecting to find her holding a white rabbit by the ears and shaking it around violently, like some kind of play toy.

"Umm, Princess…" Eirin started, cautiously stepping closer to her friend. "Why have you got that rabbit by its ears? That can't be good for it…"

"Hmph, I don't care at the moment. Besides, this thing isn't a rabbit – it's a little devil in disguise!" she retorted, holding it closer to Eirin so she could see it better. The little bunny was trembling in fear.

"Dare I ask what the rabbit did, or is this a random animal abuse session?" Eirin asked sarcastically, folding her arms. Kaguya scowled, swinging her arms together across her chest to fold them. And, in doing so, accidentally letting go of the rabbit and throwing it against the wall with a sickening crunch.

Kaguya let out a small "Oops!" but neither of them said anything, and watched the bunny as it tried to get up, and failed. It made some strange noises, and, within seconds, thundering could be heard from the hall-way the other side of the room. Eirin sniggered.

"It told on you, Princess. You're in for it now…" Kaguya glared at Eirin, shocked by her attitude to the current situation. But before she could say anything, the door behind was slid open, and a cheap shot (or head shot, depending on one's view point) hit the princess and knocked her to the floor.

"Nice shot, Udonge!" came Tei's cheerful shout as the two rabbit youkai entered the room. The moon rabbit blow at the tips of her fingers, pretending to blow away smoke from the shot, a smug look on her face. Tei hugged her, and, while hanging around Reisen's waist, pulled at face at the floored Kaguya.

"I don't care if you are a princess – that doesn't give you the right to throw rabbits!" Reisen snapped, pushing Tei off of her so she could put her hands on her hips. Letting go, the earth rabbit wondered over to Kaguya and started nudging her with her foot.

"Get up, meanie!" Tei taunted kicking harder. "You pick up a fight with one of my little guys you pick a fight with me!" After a period of no response, Tei paused, and then geared up to kick even harder. In one swift movement, Kaguya rolled onto her back and swept Tei off her feet. Before Tei could hit the floor, Kaguya fired a bullet at Tei, slamming her against the wall.

"You're picking a fight with the wrong princess, rabbit!" Kaguya screamed, charging up another bullet. Tei swiftly recovered, and whistled in a high pitch. Suddenly, several hundred rabbits stormed in from all sides, rushing at Kaguya. She yelped, but recovered quickly, swirling around to bush the rabbits away. Terrified, the swarm quickly left, leaving their leader almost defenceless. Tei was visibly panicked as Kaguya calmly walked forward, a dangerous glint in her eye.

"Now, calm down, Kaguya…" Tei pleaded. "We're not even sure what the rabbit did…" Kaguya stopped, realising this. Grabbing one of the stragglers who had yet to escape, so threw it towards Tei, who hadn't recovered fast enough to avoid getting smacked in the face.

"That thing tried to climb up my dress! Don't you dare defend it!" Kaguya yelled folding her arms across her chest indignantly.

"Wow. The fuss you kicked up, anyone would have thought it had tried to murder you or something drastic like that..." Reisen sniggered, rubbing her head just below her ears. Kaguya wasn't amused and shot daggers at her. Trying to avoid a fight, she quickly turned her back, pretending to have not said anything while whistling uneasily.

"Tei...?" Eirin broke the uneasy silence that began to settle.

"Yup yup?" the rabbit replied, cradling Kaguya's target and shielding it from any further harm.

"Something is up with the rabbits, actually. I've noticed they've been a bit... frisky? Lately, I mean." Eirin asked, staring at Tei. Most times, this was the only way to get a genuine answer of the little liar, as she would squirm, and squirm, and panic under Eirin's gaze until...

"Dunno..." Eirin did a double take.

"What do you mean, you don't know?!" she snapped. "Ask them!"

"I have. Don't think I didn't notice how weird they were being either. Udonge did too..." Reisen shook her head at this.

"That might be because I was shooting at them for being irritating..." she mumbled.

"But they won't tell me. I have asked them, honest!" Tei shouted.

"Okay, we believe you." Eirin chuckled, folding her arms.

"I don't!" Kaguya added quietly, getting ignored. "If you ask me--"

"But do you know what?" Tei interrupted. "I think I know what it is... Or, at least, I have an idea." Tei paused to check interest.

"Well? We're listening." Reisen hurried her.

"Well, haven't you been getting this bad feeling lately? I mean, like, really bad and all the time?" Tei asked, rubbing her head. "I've actually lost some sleep over it... Can you believe that! Me, losing sleep?"

"Yeah, right..." Kaguya laughed, leaving the room. "Keep those bunnies in check or it is rabbit stew for dinner, okay? And I'll cook it personally. You know how bad I am, too~ Those rabbits will suffer~" she taunted, skipping out of the room.

"NOOO! Don't you dare! I don't care if you're a princess or what! I'll--" Tei yelled, chasing after her. Reisen laughed as she watched the pair chase each other down the hallway. It was very obvious Kaguya would never carry out such a threat, as asking her any cooking question will inevitably result in "Ask Eirin, I'm a princess." Well, asking her pretty much anything could result in that answer.

She sighed, getting ready to leave the room. After a quick stretch, she swivelled gracefully on her heel to head towards the door, swinging her arms as she did so.

And smacked Eirin in the ribs.

"Err, whoops..." Reisen mumbled. "Didn't mean to do that. I totally forgot you were there, and..." she trailed off, flinching under her master's piercing glare.

"We'll talk about this later, Udonge." Eirin replied. Reisen twitched in fear. "But that's later. Can you come with me? I need to borrow you for a minute." Eirin walked briskly out of the room, partially shutting the door. Against her better judgement, Reisen soon followed suit.

* * *

One of the residential races of Gensokyo was the Tengu. Though rather human in appearance, they had various animal attributes, such as wings or tails. The Tengu had once been one of the mightiest races in Gensokyo, on par with the Oni. But when the Oni left for the underground, the Tengu eventually became mere gossipmongers, publishing their own newspapers on current affairs and gossip around Gensokyo. Though it was a lot more focused on gossip than any facts, much to the ire of anyone unfortunate enough to appear withing these newspapers.

One of the most famous Tengu reporters was Aya Shameimaru, the crow Tengu. The fastest thing alive (or dead) in Gensokyo, Aya was famous and infamous in equal measures throughout Gensokyo for her newspaper, the Bunbunmaru.

Her partner was Momiji Inubashiri, a white wolf Tengu. Loyal and faithful to a fault, Momiji had helped Aya with the newspaper numerous times, and was dedicated to helping Aya. She wielded a large sword and shield, and was adapt at using them, though she prefer to use danmaku whenever in a confrontation. But, what with her job within the Tengu as a guard for patrolling the mountain for intruders, she never really got into direct confrontations as to more give out an intruder alert.

Today, neither of them had any work to do. Momiji's shift was up, and Gensokyo had been so quiet recently, Aya felt she would get a better interview off of a wall. The two were sat up at the top of the waterfall, admiring the view of late morning Gensokyo.

"Miss Aya…"

"Yes, Momiji?"

"Why is Gensokyo so quiet?" Momiji asked, turning to her superior. Aya shrugged. "If you're stuck for material for the Bunbunmaru, I could always create a stir for you! That would be something to report about, right Miss Aya?" Aya laughed.

"But then you'd get in trouble…" she sniggered. "Don't worry, something will pop up. I mean…" she sprang to her feet. "News will come soon. It always does!" Momiji tilted her head and looked at Aya, who swung her arms around and swirled on the spot. "I mean, can't you feel it? There's something not quite right in Gensokyo at the moment. Everyone is on the edge. Everything is on the edge. Even the mountain itself on the edge! Something is about to happen and I actually have no idea what it is!" Aya screamed with frustration, sitting back down roughly.

"Oh, Miss Aya, no! You mustn't think it's your fault! It's the news' fault for not being there! You mustn't blame yourself Miss Aya!" Momiji fussed, clutching onto Aya's arm.

"Err, Momiji?"

"Yes?" she replied in a small voice.

"You're cutting off the blood supply to my arm." Aya winced through gritted teeth. "Let go." Momiji did so, squealing while she did. Aya shook her arm a couple of times to regain feeling in it.

"I didn't mean that, Miss Aya. I don't know what came over me…"

"No, you just gave me an idea, Momiji. So don't worry about it, okay?" Aya stood up and stretched her wings out. "I just need to go talk to the Kappa quickly. Later, Momiji!" she waved, flying off suddenly.

"W-wait, Miss Aya!" Momiji cried, left standing in a cloud of black feathers.

Aya was quickly where she wanted to go. Getting from A to B when you're the fastest thing around is barely a problem – even less so when it would take a normal person 10 minutes. Touching down at the side of the river, Aya started to look for one of the Kappa.

Before she could take a step closer to the river, a blue orb flew over her shoulder, barely missing her head.

"We're not giving any interviews! Get lost!"

Aya sighed. Once again, her reputation had exceeded her. But that only ever made things more fun.

"I'm only here to ask some questions, Nitori!" Aya called, not totally sure where Nitori and the other Kappa were.

"Umm, last time I checked, questions were a vital part of interviews!" Nitori yelled, fired another blue orb at Aya, followed by several air torpedoes. "So get lost! We don't want to be in your stinky newspaper!"

"Hmm, this WILL make a good story: Crazed Kappa Attacks For No Real Reason." Aya murmured, pretending to take down some notes on her notepad.

"Eeek! Get lost get lost get lost!" Nitori shrieked. "Water Sign 『Kappa's Great Illusionary Waterfall』!" On cue, a wall of water rose up from the river and roared towards Aya, threatening to engulf her. She quickly flew upwards, avoiding the entire thing.

"Haha, I know where you are now!" Aya lied, laughing. Nitori's head popped out from under the water, her cheeks red. "See, you just revealed yourself! Bye, Nitori!"

"Whaaat?! Come back here you stupid Tengu! Come on, fight me! I'll wipe that smug grin off your face!" Nitori yelled, watching helplessly as Aya flew off into the distance. "Bahh, you're not worth my time anyway..." she mumbled to herself.

"Hmm, I was right. Everybody's jumpy." Aya wondered to herself. "Perhaps I should have a look around the rest of Gensokyo...

* * *

Other than the occasional lost ghost, Hakugyokurou was a really nice place to live. Or die. Depending on what exactly you were. If you were one of the resident ghosts, it was a nice place to go when you died and awaited reincarnation. For the odd human who visited (read Reimu, Marisa or Sakuya), it was a peaceful and tranquil place, but slightly eerie to visit. But as for the gardener, it was a lot harder to figure out if she was living there, dying there, or what quite she was doing there.

The gardener was a peculiar species, half human, half ghost. But her ghost half, fondly nicknamed Myon, was a separate entity. The two pairs were always together, though. Youmu Konpaku was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. Well, apart from Yuyuko Saigyouji. She had known Youki, the previous gardener.

Yuyuko was the ghost princess of Hakugyokurou, long time dead and unable to reincarnate. With the ability to inflict death in mortals by mere thought, she is feared by many, but she is in fact a very nice person. Despite coming across as ditzy and air headed, she was very sharp witted. However, she was also a bottomless pit when it came to food.

"I have dinner ready, Miss Yuyuko!" Youmu kicked the door open, walking in with a large platter full of food, requiring both her hands to carry. But even that wouldn't be enough to satisfy Yuyuko. There was a desert platter still sat in the kitchen, along with Youmu's own dinner, which she had learnt to set aside, unless she wanted Yuyuko to eat it.

"Ooh, good. I've been waiting for a while now, Youmu…" Yuyuko cheered, clapping her hands while floating over to the table.

"I know you have. Can you release Myon now? You don't have to eat it."

"Oh Youmu, you took me seriously?" Yuyuko laughed, releasing the whisp from her grip. It shot back to its other half almost as quickly as if Myon had been attached to Youmu with a rubber band. The gardener merely grumbled, setting the food down on the table. "May I?" Yuyuko asked.

"Err, yeah, help yourself. I need to go get my own food quickly…" Youmu mumbled while she and Myon left the room. Yuyuko waited until she shut the door, before grabbing a bowl and taking a large scoop of rice. She packed it in carefully, then paused to look at it and added two more large scoops, nearly overflowing from her bowl.

"Wow, something's wrong if you haven't finished your first bowl by the time I come back in, Miss Yuyuko. Is there something wrong? Can I help?" Yuyuko threw the rice in the air from the sudden entrance of Youmu.

"No, I'm alright." Yuyuko mumbled. She looked in her bowl to resume eating. "Where's the rice g--"

Before she could finish the sentence, Youmu was standing above her with another bowl over Yuyuko's head, and rice in her own hair.

"Youmu, what are you doing? Is it some new fashion statement to wear rice in you hair?" Yuyuko giggled, snatching the bowl from Youmu and quickly devouring its contents.

"You threw… The rice went… The bowl… Oh, never mind. I need to clean up…" Youmu sobbed, leaving the room. Yuyuko ran to the door to watch her and Myon wander over to the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

"Poor old Youmu. I do wind her up sometimes… But it is fun." Yuyuko sniggered. She sighed, then left the table to sit outside with her food. Sitting down on the wooden floor, she stared up into the sky.

"There is something wrong, but I can't quite understand what it is… It feels familiar…" Yuyuko mused. "I hope I can talk to Yukari sometime soon, maybe she knows what's wrong?"

* * *

Swiftly tying her hair up into a ribbon, Reimu was proud of herself. Despite the present from Yukari not going off, causing her to massively oversleep, Reimu had managed to make herself presentable before anyone had come to the shrine. Now she only had chores left, and she could use those as an excuse to make anyone who bothered her, namely Marisa, leave her be. Today might actually be nice.

"Hmmmm…" Reimu stretched. "It's a pity the sky seems off today, though… I bet someone's pulling some huge prank on Gensokyo, and I'll be cleaning it up later. Joy of joys…" she grumbled sarcastically.

Moving over to the broom cupboard, Reimu rubbed a little more sleep out of her eyes. Her stomach growled ferociously.

"I know you're hungry, I know. But we haven't got any money, so I can't afford breakfast… Hmm, maybe Marisa coming over might be a good idea, if I can get some food off of her…"

As if on cue, a crash came from the other side of the shrine, followed by an awful smashing noise. Only two people would make such a terrible entrance into the shrine, but at least Suika would crash into the front of the shrine, rather than the side.

Sighing, Reimu headed over to the next room with her broom in hand. There was no way she was digging Marisa out of the mess, but she had to tidy up. Of course, Marisa would be helping with that.

"Reimu…" came the weak pathetic wail from under a dislodged sliding door. "Help…"

"No." Reimu replied. "Unless you have food, money, or you're going to help me tidy up your mess, I would like it if would wreak your OWN house, Marisa…"

"I didn't mean to hit the shrine. I misjudged the angle is all…" Marisa replied, while a black witch's hat popped out from part of the mess. Reimu picked it up to see Marisa's face grinning awkwardly appearing from a sliding door hanging around her shoulders. "Can I have my hat back?" Reimu stared at her blankly before throwing the hat like a frisbee as far as possible.

"Fetch." Reimu commanded after throwing the hat, then turned, picking up one of the doors that somehow remained intact. Marisa stood up clumsily, pulling the door off of her and propping it up against the wall. The hole her head had made was pretty big, and Marisa had a feeling she may be going to the Human Village to buy replacements for Reimu. Or else.

"Couldn't you get it for me?" Marisa asked, leaning out of the room and trying to reach her hat from there. "I don't want to go outside and risk getting seen by… Eep! There she goes!" Marisa pulled herself in quickly, and then ran into the next room. Reimu stuck her head out to see Alice and several dolls sweep past.

"Oh…" Reimu pulled herself back in and walked over to Marisa, who was sat in the corner. "You're hiding from Alice?"

"She's decided we were having a picnic or something! I don't remember agreeing to that! The girl's a psycho when it comes to what I should do with my life!"

"I remember you agreeing to that. What are you talking about?" Reimu commented, walking outside the shrine. "Oh, she's headed towards Remilia's mansion now."

"WHAT?!" Marisa screeched. "When?"

"I was joking." Reimu replied, watching Marisa squirm and try and move further into the room. "About remembering you agreeing, idiot. She's long gone now…" Marisa slowly and cautiously crawled out.

"You sure?"

"Not lying this time." Reimu paused, looking at the sky, and furrowed her brow.

"What's up? Alice isn't back, is she?"

"No, it's just… I dunno, something feels funny, but I'm not sure what. It's bothering me." Reimu replied.

"Well…" Marisa started, jumping out of the shrine and running over to Reimu. "If there's any youkai causing some problems, the Hakkero Reactor's not seen much action for a while, you know what I mean?" she giggled, playfully tossing said reactor in the air and catching it again.

"Yes, maybe some youkai extermination would make me feel better… But stop changing the subject! I think you owe me for the damages you caused, don't you?" Reimu asked sternly, folding her arms.

"Reimu, normally I would, but I'm really short of cash at the moment, so I can't afford to have your doors replaced or fixed or anything. I'm so sorry… Hey, you changed the topic! What are you talking about?!"

"Does that matter? Anyway, I was going to tell Suika she had broken them whilst drunk." Reimu replied. "She's temporarily lost her trust in her memory since she started the drinking contest with Aya last week. She'll pay for them."

"Then what is it you want?" Marisa asked, relived that the doors weren't her problem. As if on cue, Reimu stomach growled loudly.

"Just help me clean up the mess, then feed me, please…"

* * *

The master of the Palace of Earth Spirits was a very likeable person, despite rumours. She was polite, courteous, and always willing to help others. She also cared for her many pets, and they cared for her and carried out various jobs for her. It wasn't her fault that nobody else in the underground liked her.

Her ability to read the minds of others meant that there was no privacy around her. She couldn't even help it – she could see their thoughts just as clearly as she could hear them speak. When she was little, she thought it was ever so funny to finish people's sentences for them. It was a neat little party trick. But as people grew tired and scared off her ability, it became a hard habit to break.

This was why she had so many pets. They didn't mind her abilities, and they loved her so much. Two of Satori's favourites were her crow, called Utsuho, or Okuu to her friends. She looked after the Hell of Blazing Fires, and recently obtained the power of a god. Satori was upset that this was kept a secret from her, but also glad that someone had managed to hide something from her all-seeing eye. Maybe it was a sign that the future would be a bit friendlier.

Another favourite was her cat, Rin. Though her nickname was Orin. Orin collected the bodies of sinners and carted them off to the Hell of Blazing Fires to be incinerated. Though it was a busy job, not many bodies had been coming recently, and both Satori and Orin were concerned. However, since it meant that Orin and Okuu had more spare time, they weren't totally bothered about it. They tended to split their breaks, so that Orin would definitely be working when Okuu was relaxing, and vice versa.

"Miss Satori, it's your turn…"

"Oh, sorry. I was elsewhere." Satori apologized while grabbing the dice. "I was just wondering if something was happening above ground." Orin shook her head.

"Maybe the Yama and that shinigami are having problems again?" Orin asked. Satori rolled the dice and moved her piece across the board. "Hey, that means we might get that beautiful bloom of flowers again! Hey, Miss Satori, you're going to win!" she cheered, while Satori handed her the dice. "I hope I get a good role…"

"I doubt the Yama is having problems… She would have popped down by now and told us what was happening." Satori paused to throw the dice. "She did last time, remember?" Satori, already aware of the disappointment within Orin, slowly moved her piece onto the winning square. Orin sighed. "Though it was nice to get to see some flowers down here.

"Well done… You win." She moaned, changing the subject. "Oh well, I guess I can't win all the time, eh?"

"Yes, this is my first victory in a while..." Satori sighed, staring at the ceiling. "I think I may go above ground, you know…"

"You can't do that! You know we're meant to stay underground!" Orin shouted, bewildered at Satori even considering going above ground. "Besides, the people down here are sort of used to you. The only ones above ground who really know you are…

"Reimu and that Yukari youkai, right?" Satori finished. Orin grimaced, having her sentence stolen from her. "I know, I know, but… But this is serious. I doubt they're going to mind too much if I go up and check. Besides, isn't that Suika oni up there living quite freely?"

Orin raised her hands. "Fine, I admit defeat. But Miss Satori, I can't stop you. Especially since my shift's about to begin in a minute. But I don't particularly approve of all this… I'll see you when you return, and I'll let Okuu know where you are if she asks." Orin said glumly, heading out towards the courtyard.

"Orin?" Satori called. The nekomata stopped and turned around. "Koishi should be back from her travels soon. I'm sure she'll be happy to play with you." Orin's face broke into a smile. With a nod, she reverted to her cat form, and jumped out of the window.

With Orin satisfied, Satori left the Palace. Since Koishi should be back soon, and nobody went in there anyway, she knew she could leave the place unlocked. Besides, Orin, Okuu or another pet could easily chase any intruders out.

She wondered along the streets slowly, having not left the Palace for a great deal of time. Ahead of her, she could see streets full of drunken oni and busy youkai, enjoying themselves in their own little world under ground. But by the time she reached these streets, they would be near empty, with maybe an especially drunk oni struggling to get indoors. One particular oni she recognised.

"Yuugi, is that you?" she asked politely, offering her hand to help her up. The oni slapped it away and stood up quickly, throwing her dish into the air and catching it, without even spilling a drop.

"Leave me alone, Satori, I'm fine…" she slurred, pushing Satori away.

"I was only trying to help…" Satori sighed as she walked away.

"Hey!" Yuugi called as she walked away. Satori stopped and turned around. "Where you going? Palace of Earth Spirits is thatta way…" she yelled, pointing in the wrong direction. "You're heading towards that grumpy bridge princess, and the earth spider's playground."

"Something's wrong above ground. I'm going to see if I can be of any help to Reimu, the shrine maiden."

* * *

Late Update is Late :/ I got sick of waiting for my beta reader (yes, I waited almost the entire time). So, here it is. Emjoy~


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